INDIANAPOLIS---The 2008 NCAA Men's Final Four® Web site and the 2008 NCAA Women's Final Four® Web site were recently awarded four Outstanding Achievement Awards for excellence in design, development and implementation. The honor, granted by the Interactive Media Awards, recognizes that these Web sites met and surpassed the standards of excellence that comprise the Web's most professional work. The Creative Street Media Group developed both sites with the NCAA, as they did in 2007, and again for the 2009 tournaments.
The judging consisted of various criteria, including design, usability, innovation in technical features, standards compliance and content. In order to win this award level, the sites had to meet strict guidelines in each area – an achievement only a fraction of sites in the Interactive Media Awards competition earn each year. The Final Four sites won in both the College and Sports categories. Past Interactive Media Award winners include Kodak, Dell Inc., Disney Interactive Media, Sesame Workshop, Cisco Systems, A & E Television Networks and Biography.com.
"We are honored to be recognized by the Interactive Media Awards,” said Rick Nixon, Associate Director for the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. “We work very hard to make sure fans of the Men’s Final Four and Women’s Final Four have every advantage from an event information standpoint, and our Web sites provide that.”
David Worlock, Associate Director for the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship added, “We had a vision to make the sites more accommodating for the local city organizing committees, the volunteers and especially the fans. With over 32 million hits on last year’s sites, I think we’re achieving that and the team at Creative Street continues to be a great partner in helping us realize that vision.”
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Division I, II and III sports. Visit www.ncaa.org and www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.
The Interactive Media Awards (IMA) is managed by the Interactive Media Council (IMC), a non-profit organization of leading Web designers, developers, programmers, advertisers and other Web related professionals. The IMC established the IMAs in an effort to elevate standards of excellence on the Internet and offer talented Web professionals a boost in marketing and exposure.
In business since 1984, Creative Street Media Group includes Creative Street, Webize Interactive Media, Edit Pointe (video and audio post-production) and Creative Street Entertainment. Creative Street Media Group is a nationally-recognized, fully-integrated communications company serving clients in virtually every electronic, print and interactive medium. For more information on Creative Street Media Group, visit www.creativestreet.com.
